Because I spent a great deal of my adult life living in London and thus didn't need a car I've only owned one car which I bought in 2008.
I drive 70 miles a day up and down the A14 and as a result I needed an economical small car that was cheap and super reliable. I ended up buying a four year old Skoda Fabia TDi which has just been an absolute gem of a car. Over the last five years I've driven it to 175,000 miles and it's never had a mechanical fault.
Now however it's getting a bit long in the tooth and I have a wife and baby to transport. Since the Fabia has served me so well it seemed obvious that I should buy an Octavia, but a disastrous thing has happened since 2008 and people seem to be aware that Skodas are bloody brilliant cars and thus the residuals have gone up considerably.
So what I need is a car that is a rock solid (so nothing Italian or French) consumer of motorways and mover of families, but is deeply uncool and thus can be had for beans secondhand (£5-9k),
From a bit of research on Auto Trader the things I've identified are: The Toyota Avensis, the Seat Exeo, The Mazda 6.
Any other suggestions?
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I'd be looking at an Avensis, they tend to get snapped up by cabbies though.
The company cars (I opted out) we have now are Passats, and from some passenger journeys such a thing would fit the bill well. Entirely pleasant enough to be in.
Depending on your budget a Superb might be good - plenty on eBay with over 100,000 miles on them so there's good evidence that they're reliable enough. They seem to depreciate more than the Octavia.
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
Comfy, quite spacious (accommodates my lot and the Mrs' shopping etc) and I can get 2 guitars, head, 4x12, case and bags and a spare head in for the weekend activities. Not at the same time as the family mind.
Eats the miles, getting 47.2mpg currently, and goes through ANY weather.
Previous motor was a BMW Tourer. Having the Toyota makes me wonder what the fuck was I thinking having the BMW.
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